In the following description the situation of an alpine ski race has been taken as an example, it being understood that the invention is in no way limited to this particular application.
During an alpine ski race, photoelectric detectors are set up on the piste to determine the instant each competitor passes a few specific points of the course. Two to three detectors are normally used, one of the detectors naturally being placed on the finishing line and the other detectors being distributed between the starting line and the finishing line to measure the times of intermediate passage of each competitor. These times of passage are sent to a timing installation where they are memorized and processed. By comparing the time the skier on the piste passes in front of a detector with the times of passage of preceding skiers it is possible to instantaneously determine the ranking of the skier on the piste at the moment he passes in front of this detector. The ranking, the time of passage and the difference from the best time are displayed in digital form on the one hand on a display board located near the finishing line and, on the other hand, blended into the image received by the television audience.
This display system makes it possible to give the public instantaneously some indication regarding the performance of the skier on the piste. However this information remains very limited because only one or two intermediate passage times are measured.
It would be possible to try to make the display system more attractive to the public by increasing the number of detectors placed on the piste since this would make it possible to follow the development of the ranking of the skier on the piste more precisely. However, it would not be easy for the public to follow this development because of the type of display used. What the public would, in fact, receive would be a series of digital items of information giving the development of the ranking of the skier on the piste with a frequency that would increase in proportion to the number of detectors. It may be imagined that presentation of this kind would be extremely impractical and of little informative value to the public.
There is therefore no point in trying to make the development in the ranking of the skier on the piste more accurate by using the display methods of the state of the art. It is, however, clear that to increase the public appeal of races in which competitors set off one behind the other, it is desirable to inform the public as accurately as possible of the development of the instantaneous ranking of each competitor.
It is an object of the invention to meet this need. In a very general manner, the invention consists in resorting to a display of the analog type in place of the digital display referred to hereinabove.
More specifically, it is an object of the invention to provide a system for instantaneously displaying the ranking of a competitor in a race with sequential starts comprising:
memorization means of the time of passage of each competitor C.sub.j, 1.ltoreq.j.ltoreq.n, in front of a detector D.sub.k, 1.ltoreq.k.ltoreq.m, PA1 means for classifying the competitors as they pass each detector to establish, for each detector, a list of competitors according to their times, PA1 a processing means for, during the time a competitor C.sub.i passes in front of a detector D.sub.k : PA1 determining the instantaneous ranking of the competitor C.sub.i reaching the detector D.sub.k by comparing his time of passage with the times of passage of a plurality of already classified competitors, PA1 calculating the time differences R and A between the time of passage of competitor C.sub.i and the times of passage of the competitors with immediately adjacent rankings, PA1 converting each time difference R and A into a distance using a conversion function f, PA1 displaying in a predetermined display area a symbol representing the competitor C.sub.i and symbols representing each of the competitors of the immediately adjacent rankings by spacing their symbols out as a function of the distances calculated.
which comprises, inter alia;
This display system has the advantage of informing the public of the position of a competitor in the race in relation to competitors who have already finished in a form that is very easy to interpret visually. This form of display gives the public less complete information than the digital display of the ranking and of the time while the competitor passes in front of the detector, but in contrast it constitutes a much more informative representation of the position of a competitor in relation to his fellow contestants. What is more, it is possible to add a conventional digital display to the display system of the invention.